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 India's benchmark index Nifty 50 is set to open little changed on Monday, the first session of 2024, after clocking a 20% rise in 2023, aided by steady domestic inflows, return of foreign inflows, strong domestic growth, steady earnings and easing global interest rate outlook.

India's GIFT Nifty was trading at 21,776.50 as of 7:47 a.m. IST, suggesting the NSE Nifty 50 is set to open near its Friday close of 21,731.40.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex logged their second-best year since 2017 and were among the top-performing global stock indexes in 2023.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought Indian shares worth 1.71 trillion rupees ($20.56 billion) in the year gone by, the highest on record.

"There is a possibility of short-term consolidation or range movement in the next few sessions before the markets resume their upside momentum," said Nagaraj Shetti, senior technical research analyst at HDFC Securities.

Analysts said that quarterly earnings will be the immediate trigger for Indian equities.

Wall Street equities closed lower overnight on Friday. Asian stocks opened flat. [MKTS/GLOB]

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** Dr Reddy's Laboratories: Drug maker buys preferred A-1 shares of Israel-firm Edity Therapeutics, aggregating to 6.46% stake.

** SRF: Company says fluorocarbon refrigerant gas capacity expansion project has been commissioned at a cost of 3.17 billion rupees.

** Karur Vysya Bank: Lender says Reserve Bank of India granted approval for ICICI Prudential Asset Management to buy up to 9.95% stake.

** Auto stocks: Monthly sales data for December to be released.

($1 = 83.1900 Indian rupees)